I'm currently picking up a few vintage G1 items and the Dinobots were high up on that list. I'm at the point now where the only ones I need are Grimlock and Swoop, with the latter being something of a priority since he's my favorite Dinobot character. But I've been reading a few reviews of Swoop and have some concerns about whether it's going to be worth spending the $100+ on the figure.

On the one hand:

TFWiki said:

Swoop is notable for being one of the most fragile Generation 1 toys...

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CyclopianVision said:

Buyer?s Beware: *Sigh* EXTREMELY FRAGILE. There?s a ton of things that can go wrong with Swoop. He?s hella fragile and the hardest of the Dinobots to find in good condition. Most common problems include broken/missing beaks, broken/missing heads, and broken wings.
[...]
Buyer?s Beware: Swoop?s chest and arms are extremely fragile. Take care when transforming him into [robot] mode. The chest and arms often break when splitting them apart. Again, the beak is a general problem in this mode as well. BE CAREFUL!

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Tobias H said:

Also, there is a good reason why Swoop is so rare. Not only did he have a smaller production run than the other Dinobots, some of whom even made it to Europe, he’s also quite fragile. Every time I transform him I get panic attacks, fearing he’ll break. The beak, the shoulders, the knees, all these are parts which, even during normal transformation, tend to break. So it’s not a big surprise that it’s quite hard to find Swoops in good condition these days.

I actually do own him, and here's my evaluation: The upper beak isn't fragile so much as it is vulnerable to tearing at the hinge, due to it and the lower beak being made from soft plastic so that a kid flying him around recklessly and/or throwing him to simulate flight doesn't end up stabbing somebody. Mine came with that torn off on one side. Easily fixed, though. The wings and neck tend to break not because they're fragile, but because they can't take the same stress as the chest. The actual chest itself would be tough to break due to being die-cast. The neck and wings are not, and so tend to break if people overdo it when making the outer wings flap or bending his neck down in dino mode. He's a reasonably rugged figure, all told, just make sure you don't twist his beak sideways.

aside from some bite marks on the upper beak (i was a kid!) and the fact that his crest/head only stay plugged in half the time in dino mode - it just flaps back when he stands like i have in in the first pic - he's solid. even the rust on the knee bar doesn't hinder his transformation.

plus he's a fun character

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So, I've got a couple of sources saying it's an extremely fragile figure...and a couple of other sources that indicate it's reasonably durable, just be careful with the beak. I'd like to get a larger sampling of opinions before I decide one way or the other on this. So what say you G1 Swoop owners: Is this toy extremely fragile and one to avoid or fairly stable and worth picking up?

I'd say he is fairly stable and a good figure to own as long as you are careful with him. He's not as fragile as figures with GPS (which anyone should be scared to touch by now) but he's not durable enough to hold out against a six year old for very long. So as long as you don't go smashing him into other figures and take a little care transforming him you should have no problem.

Let me put it this way: he probably won't survive a dive off a six foot high shelf onto a hard tile floor without his beak shattering like so much glass, but he'll easily survive normal handling as long as you don't try and carry out modern Transformer durability tests on him. Swoop is the product of a bygone era of toy engineering where diecast metal and swivel joints were plentiful, so as long as you keep that in mind, things should be okay.

That being said, I still bury my Swoops in giant wads of bubble wrap reinforced by more bubble wrap when putting them in storage. Just in case.